Jeff Davis | Vent Section Manager

This Tupperware container is about to topple over with all the books I have in it and on top of it. Shakespeare, Feminist Literature, Native American Literature, Media Studies. I have projects and papers in each. And guess what our fine institution of learning scheduled when I had all this work to do?

Fall Break. Thanks guys, thanks a lot.

On behalf of all the students here at Radford, I want to thank you, administrators, for scheduling Fall Break right when all 9,000 or so of us have homework coming out our ears. It's so good to know students can visit their families with the Homework Gremlin drooling on their shoulders.

Then we can come back, throw our bags in the corner to stay unpacked for days and write papers on things that rarely impassion us. Like Derrida.

For those of you who don't know, Jacques Derrida is the foremost scholar on the literary school of deconstruction. My roommate Shaun spent most of his break trying to figure out what this old goat is saying. He walked in just a few hours ago, screaming, "F*** Derrida!"

I ask you, is that any way to spend your break?

Any college student will tell you that the late-September/early-October times in the fall term are when the most work is assigned. I can guaran-damn-tee you there will be students who have fallen behind a great deal when they get back.

The whole purpose of a break is to be on break. I'll grant that some people want to use this time to get caught up, but that number isn't exactly staggering.

Before, Fall Break was in the middle of October. What was wrong with that time? Personally, I'd prefer that time because the foliage is much better and the weather is much more brisk. Not only that, this is the time when plenty of neighbor schools have their Fall Breaks. That way, students in the area can see their friends and enjoy themselves.

I suppose I should be grateful that I even have a fall break. Most schools don't get anything around now, but these same schools give students one week for Thanksgiving. Imagine that. You think fall breaks keep morale up? Give students a week at Thanksgiving and see what happens.

While I commend the school for being compassionate to the students' wants, I suggest they cater to them with a dose of common sense.